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And having summoned the entire multitude of physicians under his kingdom, he requested from them a cure for his body. But they, having toiled much and done much and accomplished nothing, were mocked by him, who also wrote a reproachful letter against them, blaming their art as knowing nothing. And on account of the disease that lay before him, he set out on a journey to the land of the Egyptians. And it was necessary for him, proceeding from the city of the Romans to the cities in succession, to observe them. For the man was a lover of history. Therefore he passed through the city of Antioch, and crossed Coele and Phoenicia, and came into Palestine, also called Judea, 47 years after the desolation of Jerusalem. And he went up to Jerusalem, the very famous and renowned city, which Titus, son of Vespasian, had destroyed in the second year of his reign. And he found the entire city razed to the ground, and the temple of God trodden down, except for a few small houses and the church of God, which was small, where the disciples, having returned when the Savior was taken up from the Mount of Olives, went up to the upper room. For it had been built there; this is in the part of Zion, which was spared from the desolation; and parts of dwellings around Zion itself and seven synagogues, which alone stood on Zion, as mere huts, of which one remained until the time of Maximonas the bishop and Constantine the emperor, "as a booth in a vineyard," according to what is written. Therefore Hadrian planned to build the city, but not the temple. And taking this aforementioned Aquila, who was a Greek interpreter, as Hadrian himself was also a Greek; and Aquila was a relative by marriage of the emperor himself, hailing from Sinope in Pontus, he appointed him there in Jerusalem as overseer of the works of the city's buildings, having placed on the city being built his own name and the designation of the imperial name. For as he was named Aelius Hadrianus, so also he named the city Aelia. Aquila therefore, living in Jerusalem and seeing the disciples [of the disciples] of the apostles flourishing in the faith and working great signs of healings and other wonders; -for they had returned from the city of Pella to Jerusalem and were staying and teaching in it. For when the city was about to be captured by the Romans and laid waste, all the disciples were warned beforehand by an angel of God to move away from the city, which was about to be utterly destroyed. Who, having become emigrants, dwelt in the aforementioned city of Pella, beyond the Jordan; and the city is said to be of the Decapolis. And after the desolation of Jerusalem, having returned, as I said, to Jerusalem, they performed great signs, as I said before. Aquila, therefore, being pierced in his mind by Christianity, believed and after a time, having asked for the seal in Christ, he received it. But not changing from his former disposition when he was of the Greek mindset, that is, from believing in vain astronomy, in which he had been accurately trained, but each day considering the theme of his nativity, and being refuted by the teachers and rebuked for this each day, and not being corrected, but rather contentiously opposing them and hastening to establish inconsistent things, that is, fate and the narratives concerning it, he was again cast out of the church as useless for salvation. And being embittered in his mind as one who had been dishonored, he was roused to a vain zeal and, having anathematized Christianity and denied its life, he became a proselyte and was circumcised as a Jew and, having ambitiously applied himself with great labor, he gave himself to learn the Hebrew dialect and their letters. And having been most accurately instructed in this, he interpreted not using right reason, but in order to pervert

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καὶ μεταστειλάμενος ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ ἰατρῶν, ᾔτησε παρ' αὐτῶν ἰατρείαν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ. Οἱ δὲ πολλὰ κεκμηκότες καὶ πολλὰ ποιήσαντες καὶ μηδὲν ἀνύσαντες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐσκώφθησαν, ὃς καὶ ἐπιστολὴν ὀνειδιστικὴν ἔγραψε κατ' αὐτῶν, τὴν τέχνην αὐτῶν αἰτιώμενος ὡς μηδὲν εἰδυῖαν. Τῆς δὲ προκειμένης αὐτῷ νόσου ἕνεκα στέλλεται τὴν πορείαν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων γῆν. Ἔδει δὲ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς προβαίνονταπόλεις ταύτας κατοπτεύειν. Ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ φιλοΐστωρ. ∆ιέρχεται οὖν τὴν Ἀντιόχου πόλιν, ὑπερβαίνει τε τὴν Κοίλην καὶ τὴν Φοινίκην, καὶ ἔρχεται εἰς τὴν Παλαιστίνην, τὴν καὶ Ἰουδαίαν καλουμένην μετὰ ἔτη μζʹ τῆς τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ἐρημώσεως. Καὶ ἄνεισιν ἐπὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, τὴν περίπυστον πόλιν καὶ ὀνομαστήν, ἣν κατέστρεψε Τίτος Οὐεσπασιανοῦ παῖς τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας. Καὶ εὗρε τὴν πόλιν πᾶσαν ἠδαφισμένην, καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ κατεπεπατημένον, παρεκτὸς ὀλίγων οἰκημάτων καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας μικρᾶς οὔσης, ἔνθα ὑποστρέψαντες οἱ μαθηταί, ὅτε ὁ Σωτὴρ ἀνελήφθη ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλαιῶνος ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὸ ὑπερῷον. Ἐκεῖ γὰρ ὠκοδόμητο· τοῦτ' ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ μέρει Σιών, ἥτις ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρημώσεως περιελήφθη· καὶ μέρη οἰκήσεων περὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Σιὼν καὶ ἑπτὰ συναγωγαί, αἳ ἐν τῇ Σιὼν μόναι ἑστήκεσαν, ὡς καλύβαι μόνον, ἐξ ὧν μία περιελείφθη ἕως χρόνου Μαξιμωνᾶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου καὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ βασιλέως «ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. ∆ιανοεῖται οὖν ὁ Ἀδριανὸς τὴν πόλιν κτίσαι, οὐ μὴν τὸ ἱερόν. Καὶ λαβὼν τὸν Ἀκύλαν τοῦτον τὸν προγεγραμμένον, ἑρμηνευτὴν Ἕλληνα ὄντα, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀδριανὸς Ἕλλην ὑπῆρχεν· ἦν δὲ ὁ Ἀκύλας αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως πενθερίδης, ἀπὸ Σινώπης δὲ τῆς Πόντου ὁρμώμενος καθίστησιν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖσε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐπιστάτην τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν τῆς πόλεως κτισμάτων, ἐπιτεθεικὼς τῇ οἰκοδομουμένῃ πόλει τὸ ἴδιον ὄνομα καὶ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ ὀνόματος τὸν χρηματισμόν. Ὡς γὰρ ὠνόμαστο Αἴλιος Ἀδριανός, οὕτω καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὠνόμασεν Αἰλίαν. Ὁ τοίνυν Ἀκύλας διάγων ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ὁρῶν τοὺς μαθητὰς [τῶν μαθητῶν] τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀνθοῦντας τῇ πίστει καὶ σημεῖα μεγάλα ἐργαζομένους ἰάσεων καὶ ἄλλων θαυμάτων· -ἦσαν γὰρ ὑποστρέψαντες ἀπὸ Πέλλης τῆς πόλεως εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ διατρίβοντες καὶ διδάσκοντες. Ἡνίκα γὰρ ἔμελλεν ἡ πόλις ἁλίσκεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ ἐρημοῦσθαι προεχρηματίσθησαν ὑπὸ ἀγγέλου τοῦ Θεοῦ πάντες οἱ μαθηταὶ μεταστῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως, μελλούσης ἄρδην ἀπόλλυσθαι. Οἵτινες μετανάσται γενόμενοι ᾤκησαν ἐν Πέλλῃ τῇ προγεγραμμένῃ πόλει, πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου· ἡ δὲ πόλις ἐκ ∆εκαπόλεως λέγεται εἶναι. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπαναστρέψαντες, ὡς ἔφην, εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα σημεῖα μεγάλα, ὡς προεῖπον, ἐπετέλουν. Ὁ οὖν Ἀκύλας κατανυγεὶς τὴν διάνοιαν τῷ χριστιανισμῷ ἐπίστευσε καὶ μετὰ χρόνον αἰτήσας τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ σφραγῖδα ἐκομίσατο. Ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς πρώτης αὐτοῦ ἕξεως ὅτε τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐφρόνει μὴ μεταθέμενος τοῦ πιστεύειν δηλονότι τῇ ματαίᾳ ἀστρονομίᾳ, ἣν ἀκριβῶς ἐκπεπαίδευτο, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τὸ θέμα τῆς αὐτοῦ γενέσεως σκεπτόμενος, ἐλεγχόμενός τε ὑπὸ τῶν διδασκάλων καὶ ἐπιτιμώμενος ἕνεκα τούτου καθ' ἡμέραν, μὴ διορθούμενος δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλονείκως μᾶλλον ἀντιτιθέμενος καὶ σπεύδων συνιστᾶν τὰ ἀσύστατα, τὴν εἱμαρμένην δηλονότι καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτῆς διηγήματα, ἐξεώσθη πάλιν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὡς ἄχρηστος πρὸς σωτηρίαν. Πικρανθεὶς δὲ τὴν διάνοιαν ὡς ἠτιμωμένος εἰς ζῆλον μάταιον αἴρεται καὶ τὸν χριστιανισμὸν ἀναθεματίσας καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ ζωὴν ἀρνησάμενος προσηλυτεύει καὶ περιτέμνεται Ἰουδαῖος καὶ ἐπιπόνως φιλοτιμησάμενος ἐξέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν μαθεῖν τὴν Ἑβραίων διάλεκτον καὶ τὰ αὐτῶν στοιχεῖα. Ταύτην δὲ ἀκρότατα παιδευθεὶς ἡρμήνευσεν οὐκ ὀρθῷ λογισμῷ χρησάμενος, ἀλλ' ὅπως διαστρέψῃ